Monster Hunter
by Lishaaa'. and T
Summary: Welcome to Alice, the land of Swordsmen, Mages and such, where monsters roam the land and terrorise the innocent. And now meet our heroine, Mikan Sakura, a powerful swordwoman in her own right, yet hiding this secret from her classmates. Why? NxM/AU
1. Chapter 1

**Lishaaa: Hey kids, remember me? Yeah, I know I haven't updated in over two years, but a lot was going on. Well, I can't really justify my absence for the first half of my hiatus, but I can definitely justify the second. Simply, I had an Entrance exam to a Selective School my mum and dad really wanted me to get into, so I studied my butt off. I went to three different tutors, and hardly got any sleep. And lo and behold, I actually got in! Amazing right? Well, I learnt how to write better, and I am not that naive girl I was once all those years ago. **

**I realised that _The Betrayal _**was kind of shit, and well, just not to my liking, maybe I'll rewrite it, I don't know, but this time, everyone is a real butler, wouldn't that be fun?**_  
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**_The Betrayal _is probably going to stay on permanent hiatus, unless someone wants to take it off my hands. If you want it, you can have it, just PM me!**

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><p><strong>Lishaaa does not own Gakuen Alice<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter one:.<strong>

I hated work.

But, I realised after a few gruelling months, I hated school more.

I thought that being surrounded by children my age would be _fun_, but so far it has only been a tedious duty. I was so used to waking up at late hours, breaking rules (rules don't apply to Mikan Sakura) and going against higher authority, but _no_, I just had to open my mouth and ask about this 'school' thing.

This goes against everything I stand for and believe in.

Well, before I go on about my story, perhaps I should introduce myself.

My name is Mikan Sakura I'm fifteen years old and I live in the country of Alice. Now, to fill you in, Alice isn't a normal country. It's a country full of mages, hunters, assassins and the lot. This is because Alice has an unusual amount of dark energy, which, eventually took a physical form: Oni.

Of course, not all Oni are bad, but the majority seem to think that they can take over the world, which is a big fat no no.

Here in Alice, we give Onis Ranks, from F to A, F being the weakest to A, the strongest. However, there is always an exception, this being Rank S, the boss of all Onis. They're intelligent, more so than most humans in Alice. Unlike most Onis though, they don't strike without a thought, they think things through and seem to always have an upper hand.

Fortunately though, Rank S Onis were so rare that they have only been spotted several times throughout the history of Alice. Three of those times were sighted by me.

Well now that you know all this, I shall proceed onto my life story.

I was born into the Sakura house, an old, traditional household that has produced the strongest swordsmen, hunters, mages and assassins in the world, of course, I was no exception. I was a swordsman, well, swordswoman I suppose, through and through. My magic skills were sub par, but I could hold my own if I had to go against a Rank D Oni.

While most of my family liked flaunting out their 'awesomeness', as they so called it, I liked to keep on the DL, so I go by a codename, Tangerine Blossoms, obviously not the most poetic, but one that makes sense: Mikan equals Tangerine and Sakura equals Blossoms, capiche?

And out of all honesty, I was glad I got a codename. I was known to be the youngest person to ever slay a Rank S Oni ever, and let me tell you, it was out of sheer luck, but that's a story for another time.

Back to the matter at hand.

So, here I am, sitting in the back with notorious swordsman, and flame mage Natsume Hyuuga.

I remember my transferral here as if it were yesterday.

"_Hello, I presume you are Mikan Yukihara, yes?" asked a blonde man who seemed a tad too flashy for me._

_I nodded my head slightly, shifting Valitrix (my sword) in my bag. Gakuen Alice was a school to prepare the kids for the future. Or, in Layman's terms, it was a school for swordsmen/women, mages and so on. So, swords, gun, bows and arrows and staffs were all permitted on school grounds, cool, right?_

_Totally wrong. This school permitted fighting on campus, something about training minds or whatever._

_The blonde man smiled and motioned me to follow him, "My name is Narumi Anjo, and I will be your homeroom teacher, now, I understand this is the first time you've been to school, no?"_

_I, again, gave a quick, curt nod._

"_Don't worry, all kids are nervous on their first day, but before I bring you to your class, I have to ask you some questions. First off, what weapon do you use?"_

_Valitrix was more than a weapon, she was a friend, we shared a bond, I was a part of her, and she was a part of me. Kind of like that manga _Bleach_. Except, Valitrix had no Shikai or Bankai form, which totally sucks in my opinion._

_I brought out a crappy level five staff I got from home, it was decaying and smelt terrible, but I couldn't give out that I was a swordswoman just yet,"uhh, I have a staff," I answered with a small timid voice, sure, I could kick Rank A Oni ass any day, but this was bloody frightening._

_Naru stroked his chin in thought, "hmm, a mage, lots of girls become mages and healers, you look like you couldn't handle a punch."_

_Anyone say sexist much? _

"_Any hands on abilities? Skills with a sword? Bow and Arrow? Gun?"_

_Being the kind of person I am, I decided to keep my trump cards a secret, "no."_

_His face brightened and we started walking until we reached a classroom with a sign that read out '2-Baka' on it, the 'aka' bit was written with terrible penmanship and with a sharpie. I raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless, walked right in._

_Naru casually floated in, writing my name on the board as he did so. He clapped his hands with a huge grin plastered on his face._

_I turned to look at my future classmates, and I was not impressed. Paper was strewn everywhere, weapons were thrown around the class, everyone sat on a table, and more than half of the girls were huddling in the corner, talking about who knows what. No wonder they were 2-Baka._

_No one made a sound when I walked in. I felt like a piece of meat._

_Whatever, time to get this show on the road, "Hi!" I greeted, with a cheery smile on my face, "I'm Mikan S-... Mikan Yukihara."_

_A snarky girl in the corner that I had mentioned earlier asked, "what's your weapon?"_

_I brought out my staff, and the whole class burst into raucous laughter._

"_What is that thing? OMG, that thing's awful."_

_I brought the staff to my chest, I do admit, it was kind of crap, and it definitely had its better days, "It's my staff," I retorted with a huff._

_The girl flicked her hair back,"whatever."_

_After that comment, the class went back to whatever they were doing before, leaving me with the flamboyant teacher._

_I glanced at him and he gave me a pitiful smile, I thought it was because of the attitude of the class, but I later found out that it was anything but. He pointed to a vacant spot at the back of the room, and patted me on the back "your spot's there Mikan, you're partner is Natsume Hyuuga, and if you have any questions, just ask him, okay?"_

_Wait. Hold up. Did he just say-... no, he didn't, did he?_

_Natsume Hyuuga? _

_As in, cocky, I-am-greater-than-thou, Hyuuga?_

_I will not stand for this. I will not stand damn it!_

_Just because the boy kills some Rank A Oni, he decides that he's top shit._

_Well honey, newsflash, I started killing Rank A Oni when I was _twelve.

_And speak of the devil, said boy decided to grace us with his presence by coming in late. The door slammed open and everyone in the class became quiet again. He gave me glance, sizing me up. He eyes went back and forth from my face to my craptastic staff._

_Well. This was just-... well._

_He smirked and snorted at me when he realised I was just some weakling, looking for my fifteen minutes of fame. _

_Did he just? This kid is going to get his butt whooped._

_I cannot believe he just snorted at me. Me, Tangerine Blossoms, the number three ranked hunter, he was number eleven on the list, I outranked him._

_Seriously though. Fuck. My. Life._

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><p><strong>Well, even if I did sort of improve my writing, I'm still pretty crap at it.<strong>

**Send me love in the form of reviews, please?**_  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Lisaaa: Hey, this writing thing is becoming fun again! But I'm not sure that I'll be able to keep this going, see, the problem with me is that I have good ideas, but they generally fuse out once I start it. Yes folks, I'm often hit by what's known as writer's block. Shocker. I know.**

**But, you can help me! If you have any good ideas, just PM me, if you have _a lot_ of good ideas, PM you're e-mail and I'll add you on MSN or something :)**

**I don't bite. I'm prettay nice ;) hehe.**

**You can even PM you facebook or tumblr or something.**

**Hope to see your smiling faces (lol) and gorgeous ideas~**

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><p><strong>Lishaaa does not own Gakuen Alice<strong>

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><p>"<em>Ne, ne, your name's Mikan, right?" I glanced up to see two girls who were practically bouncing on the spot in front of me. One of the girls had curly bubblegum pink hair, and the other had navy blue straight hair.<em>

"_Yep," I answered with a grin rivaling theirs, "that would be me."_

"_This is so exciting, we don't usually get transfers at Gakuen Alice. Most of us have been here since we were old enough to handle a sword and not manage to kill ourselves," the pink haired one joked. A scene of five year old Hyuuga holding an oversized sword flashed through my mind and I snorted at the image._

"_Anna!" the blue haired one reprimanded, "we haven't introduced ourselves yet!"_

_The girl blushed bowed,"oh right! Hi Mikan! I'm Anna-"_

"_And I'm Nonoko-" _

"_And we're-"_

"_TWINS!"_

_The smile on my face brightened, "oh? What's your thing?" which was basically code for, '_what are you good for?'.

_Anna smiled, "we're healers, well, Nonoko does all the mixing and stuff, but I make potions taste better."_

_Mild shock must've flashed across my face because she started speaking again, "yeah, pretty amazing right? Potions and antidotes are the most disgusting things ever, but they get the job done. Well, me and Nonoko had a brilliant plan one day, because she was, somehow, gifted with the sciencey stuff-"_

"_And looks," Nonoko added solemnly._

_Anna sighed, "-and looks, and I was gifted with awesome cooking skills, we decided to combine our skills together to produce Anna and Nonoko's potion cookies!" she pulled out a small tied up bag from her pocket, "here, first five cookies are on the house," she placed the small bag of cookies in my hands and I stared at them dumbly._

"_No, I couldn't," I replied, trying to give the girls back the bag._

_Nonoko shook her head, "don't worry, after you finish this batch, you'll be begging for more, especially since your staff couldn't even handle a level two healing spell," couldn't everyone just let the staff go? Jeez. "One cookie is four rabbits and a pack of five is fifteen rabbits, remember!"_

_I laughed at looked at Anna inquisitively, she was staring fixedly at my bag, so I followed her line of sight and froze._

_No. No. No. Please. Not Valitrix. Please don't let her see Valitrix. Oh Kami. Please don't. Jesus? Buddha? ...Santa?_

"_Omigosh, isn't that the newest edition of Hunters Monthly, isn't it going to be released in like, two days? Why do you have a copy?"_

_Santa, you are going to get some extra choco chip cookies for Christmas, I promise you that old pal, "hehe, I know some people."_

_She yanked the magazine out and my bag jostled, Valitrix rested back into a comfortable position, out of sight from prying eyes. From the corners of my eyes, I saw Anna and Nonoko gushing at the 'What's hot, what's not' page. _

"_Oh look," said Nonoko, "Natsume-kun is in here! And so is Tangerine Blossoms"_

_The snarky girl from earlier rushed to our side after we mentioned the great Hyuuga's name. Note: sarcasm._

"_OMG! OMG! Natsume-sama is in here!" she shrieked, busting my ear drums._

_Anna and Nonoko paid no attention to the squealing girl, "hey look here, says that Tangerine Blossoms is gonna be out of commission for a while, wonder why," said Anna, reading the page, "wow, her hair looks so silky, too bad you can't see her face behind that mask of hers."_

_I chuckled nervously next to her, if only she knew..._

Monster Hunter

"_Mikan-chan, Mikan-chan!" _

_It was lunch and I was just casually lounging around in the back gardens, hoping to get some me time._

_Unfortunately, Anna and Nonoko didn't get the memo._

"_Hey Mikan-chan, oh, this place is really, really nice, wonder why I've never noticed it before," Anna stood there appreciating the scenery. Of course it was gorgeous, it was picked out by yours truly._

"_Oh, well, I hope you don't mind, but I brought along some others," she nodded to a group of people who stood awkwardly by the corner, some of who looked slightly familiar, probably because they were in my class. Or something like that._

_The first one who sat down on the grass with me gave a huge grin and nodded, lifting a single hand giving me a small salute, "yo, name's Koko, but you can call me 'baby', I'm a mind reader, but I'm also an archer on the side," he winked impishly and laughed. He was okay looking I suppose, with dirty blonde hair, he was practically joined at the hip with some other kid though._

_Said kid gave me the nod. Yes. Not _a _nod. He gave me the nod. "Kitsuneme. Mage"_

_Koko was slapped across the head by the squealing fangirl from earlier, "ignore him," she stuck out a hand and eyed me, "I'm Sumire Shouda, I specialise at calling out familiars, I'm pretty skilled at using runes as well, but first thing's first, are you a fan of Natsume-sama?"_

_I shook her hand and violently shook my head._

_She gave me a look, but dropped the topic._

_I saw a short raven haired girl in the corner place down a blanket before sitting on the grass, "Hotaru Imai, inventor slash blacksmith slash repairer of weapons slash ice mage" she said curtly, she seemed to remember my staff because she quickly added, "with a hunk of junk like that staff from before, I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot of you. Or, better yet, buy one I made, made it from Rank B dragon hide. Only two thousand rabbits."_

_I shuddered at the thought._

_Another dirty blonde haired boy came out, stuttering quietly, "m-my name is Yuu Tobita... I'm the class p-president. I-I'm a sharpshooter," he sat down next to Anna and blushed slightly. Oh. I see whats going on.  
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_When I turned my head, a boy with a pink bunny rabbit in his arms smiled at me and I felt butterflies flitting about in my stomach. "Hello Yukihara-san, I'm Ruka Nogi, like Shouda-san, I also call out familiars," he tilted his head to the side and I was almost blinded by his cuteness. Almost. "It's nice to make your acquaintance Yukihara-san."_

_Nonoko smiled once all the introductions were over, "well, there's one more, but I think Natsume-kun has a mission on now."_

_I froze. Natsume? Seriously? Can't I catch a break? Like, ever?  
><em>

_Anna nodded in agreement, "well, we'll have to make do with what we have, just to keep you updated Mikan-chan, Koko is a compulsive flirter, anything that has two legs and wears a skirt is doomed. Kitsuneme is his tag along. Sumire is the president of the Natsume and Ruka fan club. Nothing's wrong with Hotaru-chan, but we suspect her to be OCD and very much in like with money. Iincho is a bit shy, but once he gets to know you, he'll be fine and Ruka... well... Ruka snaps once you call him a You-Know-What."_

_A You-Know-What? Was this somehow related to You-know-who? Old Voldy smores? I looked at her strangely, "a... what?"_

_She shook her head and trembled, as if remembering a bad memory, "you'll find out soon. Don't worry. He's alright if Natsume-kun is there. Or Piyo."_

_Before I got to ask who or what Piyo was, the tips of my pigtails suddenly caught on fire._

_So the great Natsume Hyuuga was cocky and childish?_

_What a terrible combination._

_I turned my head to look at the pissed off boy behind me._

_Placing his sword on the ground, he stuck out a thumb at me and asked, "what's Polka-dots doing here?"_

_Polka-dots?_

_Polka...polka...po-_

_I glanced down at my skirt._

_Ah, polka-dots._

_This kid is going to die. Even if it's the last thing I do._

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><p><strong>Another chappie over! Review please, and remember, if you have any good ideas, any at all, PM me your e-mail or facebook or even tumblr O.O<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Lishaaa: My writing thingo stuffed up on me, so I ended up using Notepad. It sucked. I just want to rant here if that's okay with you guys, I don't rant all that much to people but I manage to bottle things up. So in school, we have this thing called ILP (Independent Learning Project), it's basically where everyone chooses a topic and go into deeper detail in this topic. You have to choose an essential question that would make your average person say 'and I care... why?' **

**This project is supposed to fun... or something like that. And on the plus side, it's the only way for a year nine to get free periods to go out and leave the school early. And I go to school in the city so it's all good (I have to wake up at six to get to school everyday, it's like an hour and a half train ride from where I live, yeah, I know, sucks to be me, right?)**

**I think I know what I want to do. I want to do desserts and ask 'How have desserts changed over the years?' or, "What makes a good dessert?' and be all philosophical about it. Of course I have an ulterior motive, I just want to eat out. I'm supposed to present it in a creative format so I think I'm going to write a magazine or whatever and be done with it. I'm going to have a page where it recommendations from Lisa and reviews, from different people, of course, about dessert places that I know in Melbourne. Like Kokoblack, Gnash, Max Brenner, Lindt Cafe, even Passion Flower! (BTW, if you live in Melbourne and haven't eaten at at least one of these places, you have not lived) But, I feel sort of bad, because my friends are all doing questions like 'What makes a good book?' and 'What makes a person beautiful?' and me and my suss questions are in the corner crying a bit.**

**Well, if you do live in Melbourne, and know more dessert houses (in the city please) PM or review me :)**

**Oh, and give me your opinion on these matters, should I change my topic? People have told me that I should do something I'm passionate about and I always reply with, "dude, you're telling Lisa this? Lisa is only passionate about two things. Manga/anime and dessert." But, unfortunately, someone is already doing Anime. So yeah. Sorry for taking up so much space to rant. You can skip this if you want. But please give me your honest opinion on things.**

**Oh yeah! Any awesome ideas about stories, PM/review me and I'll try to add them in ;)**

**Any extremely detailed, long ideas that may as well be a story in itself, well, PM your e-mail/facebook/tumblr or whatever and talk to me over through that. Trust me. I don't bite. People anyway, unless you're part human part cake. Then PM your address -wink wink-**

**Thank you for letting me rant.**

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><p><strong>Lishaaa does not own Gakuen Alice.<strong>

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><p><em>My second day of school was no better. I sat in class, got my skirt flipped and hair burnt because of Hyuuga. Regrettably though, the Hyuuga fangirls mistook my red face of rage for a red face of, get this, actual like. As if that's gonna happen. Well, lunch soon rolled by and the classroom erupted in a huge commotion.<em> _Something about a kid named Youichi? I don't know._

_A young boy (about eight years old, I would say) entered the class with a stoic look on his face. Not to sound pedo-ish or anything, but give him a couple more years,_ _and he'd definitely become a heart breaker. His hair was ash grey and his face had not yet lost its baby fat, but I suppose that was all a part of his appeal, his 'adorable-ness', if you will._

_Shouda-san, who I have opted to call Permy (because of her downright ridiculous do) noticed him enter first._

_"You-chan~ I bet you came here to see your nee-chan, right?" she asked, her eyes alight._

_He gave her a small glare, "why would I come to see a hag like you?"_

_He was like a mini Hyuuga. What was the world coming to?_

_The boy looked around and nodded at a few people (namely Ruka-pyon and Hotaru)._

_His eyes then locked on the boy casually sleeping on his desk next to me. Ah. That explains it. This kid was probably Hyuuga's _protégé_ or something._

_"Natsume-nii-chan," he said, he seemed to notice me and cocked his head slightly. his eyes never left my gaze, but he slowly walked towards Ruka-pyon and tugged on his shirt lightly._

_"Ne, ne nii-chan, who's that hag that's next to Natsume-nii-chan?" out of all honesty, I was a bit miffed at being called a hag._

_Ruka-pyon laughed a bit but answered nonetheless, "You-chan, you shouldn't call her a hag, she's only fifteen," damn straight, "her name's Mikan Yukihara and she transferred here yesterday. She's sitting next to Natsume because she's his partner."_

_The younger boy's eyes widened in undertanding, "is she strong?"_

_Ruka sweatdropped, "uhh, well... she was potential," he replied, lost for words._

_Pssh. Potential. I'm the strongest person here, boy._

_Youichi then proceeded to glare at me. Stomping towards me, he glared. If looks could kill. "Hag," he said, I was sure he was referring to me, "get away from Natsume-nii-chan you no name hag! I'll only permit the best of the best to be near Natsume-nii-chan, so get a star rank of get out."_

_I levelled his stare with my own look of incredulous._

_"Star rank?" I wondered. Aloud, I may add._

_Yuu-kun, or Iincho as I lovingly called him, answered me, "s-star ranks are the ranks you get once you complete a set number of missions. Depending on how difficult a mission is, the higher your r-rank goes. There are no ranks, for those who don't do missions, or new transfers, like you, single stars who complete small easy missions. D-double stars who complete the relatively average missions. Triple stars who do hard missions and do them on a r-...regular basis, and special stars who are nationally ranked hunters."_

_"So like Hyuuga?" and Tangerine Blossoms._

_"Yes," Iincho smiled, "like N-Natsume-kun."_

_"Hmm, okay, I think I got that..."_

_Youichi folded his arms over his chest, even though he was eight, he was a damn intimidating eight year old, "see, you're just some no star, so get a rank, or get lost."_

_Oh, so he was challenging me? I never back away from a challenge. Never. No matter how restricted my abilities were going to be. Obviously I accepted his challenge._

_I stood from my spot, shaking the table in the process, this seemed to get the class' attention._

_"Mikan-chan?" inquired Anna._

_"I'm going to get myself a rank, and I won't quit 'till I do. Even if it kills me."_

_"M-Mikan-chan," started Iincho, glancing at me warily, "I'm not stopping you from g-going on your missions, but you have to bring someone p-...people with you."_

_"Eh?" What, why?_

_"Well, it a rule here that no stars, single stars and double stars have to go on missions with at least two other people. You know, in case you hurt yourself or something..." Well thanks Iincho, for mentioning these things earlier. Well, this is troubling. I can't bring up my star rank to triple without people questioning me._

_I weighed my options. Slowly but surely climb my way up the ranking ladder, or reveal my secret to the school. If I revealed my secret, I'd be back to being Tangerine Blossoms. I won't live a semi-normal life and no one would know me for me. But, on the other hand, if I slowly built up my strength or whatever, I could slowly go homicidal for relearning things I already learnt. Hmm._

_'_Who says you can't bring the same two people out on your missions Mikan-chan?_' I heard a voice question from my bag. Me and Valitrix, as I probably mentioned before, are on a whole other wavelength. We share thoughts most of the time, but she's pretty evil, so I tend to ignore her. This, however, has been her sanest thought yet._

_'_Keep going_,' I answered back to her, liking where her train of thought was going._

_'_Well, you're going to make friends anyway, get someone who's strong, but doesn't seem like the type who will disclose information, this way, you can rank up easier and no one will question you, because you have said person/people_.'_

_'_...Huh?_'_

_She sighed, '_you're such an idiot_,' she likes to call me an idiot anytime she gets really, '_don't you see numbskull, if you have one or two triple ranks with you, you can go on difficult missions, you can slay whatever monster ass you find with me, tell them about Tangerine Blossoms, make them keep your secret if they like to live, and rank up as you wish. Other people will just think that it's the effort of the triples that got you a good rank_.'_

_'_Oh, I get it_.'_

_I could feel Valitrix roll her eyes at me, how an eyeless sword could roll her eyes, I don't even, '_thank God, if I had to explain that a third time I would of.._.'_

_I cringed. '_Who should I ask?_'_

_'_Well, judging through process of elimination and personality, your safest bet is with little miss inventor over there and blondie._'_

_'_Hotaru and Ruka-pyon? Why?_'_

_'_They're the only ones in this class who are triples and who are not the stuttering idiot over there, and, as a huge bonus, one of them is a blacksmith, which means that she can repair me if I start rusting. God forbid_.'_

_'_Oh_,' was all I managed to say._

_'_Yes oh, now, wait until class is over to ask them. Don't screw this up dumbass._'_

_It was so nice to have a civil conversation with Valitrix. Maybe I should have brought Kuroshi-ro instead, we always have harmless, non threatenging conversations with each other._

_'_You mention that goddamn weakling again and I will cut you girlie. That fucking katana is such a know it all, well, do you know what? Who gives a bloody fuck? He should see all the fucks I give._'_

_And there you have it folks. Don't worry. This is only a small rant. Try to stay tuned._

_'_And he's all, oh yeah, I'm a _katana_ and Japanese, I'm better than you you ugly sword, I've been with the Sakura family for generations, yet you were a sword that Mikan-_dono_ picked out when she was four, oh, she used me to slay her fist Rank S Oni, but you, you've only slayed Rank A Oni, haven't you? I was used by Mikan-_dono_'s _Ojii-sama_ to.._.' and yadda yadda blah blah blah._

_Trust me, when she gets into one of her 'moods' she doesn't stop._

_I glanced around the class and noticed that three quarters of it were all looking at me like I had lost it. As you would if someone announced something, then zoned out for ten minutes. Quietly, I sat back down on my seat as if nothing happened. I would wait until after class for the fun to begin._

Monster Hunter

_It was after class that I decided to pounce on my victims._

_"Hotaru-chan," I said sweetly, "Ruka-pyon?"_

_They both looked at each other before returning their gaze to me._

_"Yes Yukihara-san?"/"What do you want stupid?"_

_Harsh Hotaru. Just harsh._

_"Well, I want to ask you something."_

_They straightened up in their chairs._

_"Alone," I pointed towards the door and gave them a meaningful look. They weren't triples for nothing._

_They gave each other looks again and followed me to my room._

_My bedroom wasn't glamorous, it was no mansion. It was plain, boring, and had no style whatsoever._

_Hotaru looked like she wanted to hurl. She brought out a spray of disinfectent and sprayed every corner slash crevice imaginable._

_Jeez, that's a nice way of saying that my room just rocks your socks._

_When they sat comfortably on my bed (Hotaru was sitting on a napkin from her pocket, because she didn't want my 'germs' touching her, she explained. I hadn't realised that awesomeness was contagious), I expplained my situation to them._

_"Well, first I want to ask you, will you be willing to go on future missions with me?"_

_They stared at me like I had sprouted a second head._

_Hotaru was the first to react, "if this is what this is about, forget it, I have better things plan-"_

_I interrupted her, "NO! Wait. Hear me out. Please. I know I have only known you for a day, but please. If you agree, I will tell you some valuable information that will have to be kept a secret."_

_Hotaru folded her arms, "how valuable?" she asked me skeptically._

_"So valuable that I only know it."_

_Hotaru thought for a moment._

_Ruka, however, agreed to go on missions with me, saying something how it'll be good training for missions with Hyuuga._

_Hotaru sighed and slumped back onto her napkin, "proceed. But if this is some kind of ruse though, I will make you one unhappy student, you got that?"_

_I smiled, "I hear ya loud and clear. Okay then," I clapped my hands together, "first things first, my name is not Mikan Yukihara."_

_They gaped. Good reaction._

_"My name is Mikan Sakura, but, you may know me by my pseudonym, alter ego, my alias if you will-"_

_Ruka put two and two together and managed to get four, he gasped and covered his mouth, "you... you're Tangerine Blossoms! Oh Kami, and Natsume does all that perverted stuff to you... oh Kami Kami Kami... Please forgive him," he quickly got off my bed and got on his knees, begging for Hyuuga's forgiveness._

_I chuckled, "this is why I didn't want to be Mikan Sakura here. Or Tangerine Blossoms. This kind of life, it's not fun. Having people constantly put you on a pedestal and worship you, not cool at all. And don't worry about Hyuuga, I've had worse things done to me."_

_Hotaru looked mildly shocked, "I want evidence."_

_"Oh, alright," I rolled my eyes as I pulled out Valitrix. If anything, their eyes got even wider._

_Hotaru brought a shaky hand up to touch my baby, "is this-" she gulped, "is this Valitrix?"_

_"Yeah."_

_I let Hotaru hold onto her for the time being, "this sword, this sword is every blacksmiths' dream. It perfect in anyway manageable. The shape. Its contour. Everything," she gasped out. If I didn't know any better, I would say she was having some sort of asthma attack on me._

_"Don't you also use a katana? Along with Valitrix?" asked Ruka-pyon._

_"Yep, except Kuroshi-ro is a Sakura family treasure, been with us since yonder, apparently, Jii-chan didn't let me bring him because I would lose him, or something like that."_

_"He?"_

_I really didn't want to explain to them that Kuroshi-ro and Valitrix were sentient beings. At least not now._

_"Umm, well, you know, Kuroshi-ro and Valitrix have been with me so long that it seems like they have personalities... you know?"_

_"Oh?"_

_"Kuroshi-ro would be very thoughtful... and smart I reckon, and Valitrix would be rough and strong, like her name."_

_Hotaru handed Valitrix back to me, "yes, this sword would be a woman, it's very elegant."_

_Valitrix puffed proudly._

And well, you could say the rest was history

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><p><strong>Next chapter brings us back to the present and Ruka, Mikan and Hotaru go on their first mission together. Thank you for all your favesalerts and reviews! After two years on fanfiction and everything changed. I don't know how to check my alerts or faves now but I know people have because my e-mail has been bombarded with them.**

**But more would be awesome. Thank you. Arigato. Cam on. Merci. Grazie. Gracias. Kamsa hamaida. Cheers ^^**


	4. Chapter 4

**Lishaaa: Thanks for all your reviews guys. No rant today. Teehee.**

**PM/review any ideas, PM e-mail/facebook/tumblr for any extraordinary ideas.**

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><p><strong>Lishaaa does not own Gakuen Alice<strong>

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><p>Of course, nothing was all that easy when I was involved. I couldn't go on my first mission for a few months because they had to register me as a Oni Hunter, which took ages. After they did, they said that they were still in the process of getting my ID, and, for all of those people who don't know, the ID was not only to show you proof of your identity, but it also kind of worked as a credit card (more explanation: after you go on your mission, you go to the mission counter, and they give you money depending on how well you completed it [your mission], also, the mission counter is where they determine whether or not you can rank up in star ranks, according to Iincho anyway). So I spent most of my afternoons just lounging around in the back gardens with the gang. Sometimes I would venture off to help Anna and Nonoko improve their Potion cookies, which Ruka-pyon confirmed were just the best things ever.<p>

Today's the fated day, I can finally get my Hunter's ID, I can finally go on missions, but instead, here I am sitting next to Hyuuga. He's glaring at me like always. In all the months I've been here, we've never had a proper, non-threatening conversation with each other. It was as if he hated me, but I'm not sure where this spark of hatred came from, because as I said earlier, we've never really spoken, this would be the least of my problems though, because see, the feeling was mutual.

Now, before you go on about my hate for Hyuuga is unjustified and whatever bullshit you can think of, my hate for Hyuuga goes back a long, long time ago, it began when I was six.

Jii-chan and Papa had just come home from a mission and they were gushing about the prodigal son Natsume Hyuuga. They kept on talking about how great his skills were in both swordsmanship and magic and how he was only six. I was the heir to the Sakura lineage so it was only natural that they'd start training me, especially after their encounter with Hyuuga.

When he'd kill a Rank E Slime (even though Slime are the weakest of the weak keep in mind that Hyuuga was only six and he's only human, not some crazy mutant super freak) I had to kill a Rank D Dragon (no one seemed to notice that I was human though -insert eye roll-), when Hyuuga learnt his times tables up to twelve, I learnt my times tables up to twenty. When Hyuuga killed his very first Rank B Oni, I had to go search for a Rank A Troll. Jii-chan and Papa were ecstatic when I got ranked third nationally. Girls don't generally become hunters, so I was one of the few, and may I add, youngest girls on the list. They were even more ecstatic when they found out that they're only little girl managed to nearly get killed by a Rank S Demon. Of course, Mama beat them up later for it. At times, I found it frustrating that I was the only one getting pressured. Hyuuga lived a good life. His parents loved him no matter what he did. Even if he didn't become a swordsman and became a painter or something, they would have still loved him just as much. I'm not saying that my family don't love me, but if I became a painter say, well, let's just say that my paintbrushes wouldn't be the only thing that were going in the trash. They were lucky they got a daughter like me. Damn lucky.

And to top it all off, Hyuuga took his parents for granted. They did everything for him, but he just shrugged it off like everything he does. He doesn't have other familial duties other than to be a good son.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg, his cocky attitude. His perverted humour. His... his... his EVERYTHING. Well. It just pissed me off.

"Yukihara!"

I snapped my head forwards to look at Jin Jin, our maths teacher, a few months in and he already has it in for me. It's not my fault that the stuff he teaches doesn't apply in the real world. Who needs to know about Pythagoras' theorem? Or Surds? When in the world? Tell me that Jin Jin.

"Answer this maths question now!" he hit the board with his stick thingo and it made me jump.

I stared at it for a second and boggled, "a ladder leaning against a three metre fence also reaches a wall on the other side of the fence. If the foot of the ladder is two metres from the fence and the fence is four metres from the wall, determine how far up the wall the ladder reaches..."

"Thank you Yukihara for reading the question out loud, but that was not what I asked for. Answer the question now."

"But, but, but..."

"I will not have parrots in my class Yukihara. Haven't you learnt anything yet? To figure out this question, you obviously have to apply the method for solving similar triangles."

"Similar... what?"

He slammed his stick and pointed at me with one of his long, crooked fingers, sparks appearing at the tips. And this is why I hate electricity mages with anger issues. They're just so explosive. "Yukihara, are you telling me that you have learnt nothing in these last few months?"

"Uhh..." I scratched my head a bit and bit my lip, I could see Hyuuga smirk and laugh at me from my peripheral vision.

That dastard.

A small lightning wave was thrown at me. I didn't dodge it, and it hurt like hell.

Just a typical day in the life of Mikan Sakura. Sigh.

During Lunchtime, Narumi-sensei gave me my Hunter's ID and congratulated me, "congratulations Mikan-chan, you're now a fully fledged, bona fide hunter now. Good luck!"

I accepted the card with glee and span around a bit, "omigosh, I got it, I got it, I got it! Yay!"

I looked at the card, it wasn't flashy, and it definitely was not as cool looking at Hyuuga's Special Star card, but it was all mine!

"Oi, Strawberries, do you mind getting out of the hallway? Some people have lives to live," a familiar voice called out.

I puffed my cheeks out and pouted, "mou, Hyuuga, I get my ID and you're not proud of me? At all? I finally got it! I can get a rank now!"

"Good luck with that, with that shitty staff of yours, there's no way you can raise your rank to anything."

I huffed again and shook my arms in anger, "mou, Hyuuga!"

He walked off towards the Sakura Tree. I knew he was going to the Sakura Tree because it was the only place in the school that was off limits, excluding the forest, and I really don't think that Hyuuga was suicidal. Pssh. I bet he thinks he's so gangster like that. When he left, I could have sworn his face turned a lightish pink. Maybe it was the light. Who knows.

Well forget that, I practically skipped to the missions counter, behind the desk, I was greeted by a man that went by the name of Persona. Oh, so this was the great Persona Serio. I didn't realise there was such a high ranking hunter in my midst. For a bit of insight on Persona-sensei, he's the second best hunter in Alice, it's rumoured that everything and everyone he touches, dies, that's why he always wears his gloves. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't scared of him. Scared wasn't even half of it. I was terrified of the man and I had only met him twice. Once was a complete accident, I was off tying to kill a Rank B Oni, and the second time was when Nobara-chan (a very powerful ice mage, fifth*) invited me to one of her annual parties. I walked up to the counter, scared for my life.

"U-uh, I'm here to," gulp, "apply for a mission..."

He slowly looked up to face me.

"Name?" he asked.

I stuttered out my name, "M-Mikan S- I mean... Mikan Yukihara... s-sir."

"Yukihara? You look more like a Sakura to me."

Busted.

"ID?"

Seriously? He was going to drop it?

I stumbled to get the ID out of my pocket, when I procured it, I handed it to him.

"Hmm. I see you're a no star, first mission I presume?"

In fear that I would say something stupid and completely out of whack, I swiftly nodded my head.

"Okay," he started signing some forms, "there's a list of missions over there on the board," he pointed to a board behind me, overfilled with sheets of paper, "when you find one you want, take it off and sign your name on it, also write the names of your partners."

I nodded and again and walked towards the board.

Sheet and sheets of paper filled the board, some missions that had nothing to do with hunting and even some missions that I would never attempt to try let alone do. I snatched up a sheet off the board that looked decent. It wasn't too hard. Wasn't too easy. And it wouldn't 'cause suspicion. I whipped out a pen from my pocket and signed Mikan Yukihara on it, next to my name, I wrote Hotaru's and Ruka-pyon's.

I gave the sheet to Persona-sensei and he raised a brow at me. Nevertheless, he stamped it with the Gakuen Alice stamp and put it into the chute that went God knows where.

"I bid you luck... Mikan Sakura."

"Oh, than-" I turned my head to see his toothy evil grin.

Well. Snap.

I gulped for what seemed like the umpteenth time "how did you know?"

"It's obvious. You have your father's eyes and your mother's hair. Not to mention that your father's name was Yukihara. It only changed to Sakura because the Sakura name never changes. Not to mention your reaction when I mentioned Sakura just two minutes before. It astounds me that none of the other teachers know of this."

Oh yeah, did I mention that Persona knew my identity as Tangerine Blossoms? Heh. He was renowned for his intellect for nothing.

"Not to mention... you have an air."

"...An air?"

"Yes, Mikan Sakura. Tangerine Blossoms, if you must. You have great power within you. You cannot wield it yet though, soon... soon the time will come," he smiled evilly again, "have a nice day."

I started to walk off, but stopped midstep, "are you going to tell anyone?" I asked, my voice shaking slightly.

"Now, why would I do that? This. This show will be much too entertaining to let down. Only a fool would give this moment up," he took his glove off and stuck his hand out, asking for a handshake.

I hesitated, but walked up to him and brought my hand up to his.

"It was a pleasure to meet you... Tangerine Blossoms."

Why must all bad things happen to me?

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><p>*Kudos to Bunny-chan for this idea! See people? You should be following in Bunny-chan's footsteps and give me ideas! Now, Nobara will be entering the stage later, as an important character.<p>

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><p><strong>Lova ya. Review please? For me?<strong>


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